1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to food products.
More particularly, the invention relates to crispy chip sandwich products in the form of crispy chip sandwich garnishes and sandwiches made therewith.
2. Description of Prior Art
Sandwiches of all kinds, both hot and cold, are popular food products in our society. For example, many individuals enjoy the taste of chips on lunch meat, hamburgers and other types of sandwiches. The common method to achieve such culinary delight is to place a pile of potato chips or corn chips on the sandwich, and mash the chips between the bread to maintain the chips in position while eating the sandwich. However, there are certain drawbacks and disadvantages to this scenario. A diner may need to open a new bag of chips, even if he or she does not want additional chips with the sandwich. Mashing and holding the chips in the sandwich can cause the chips to breakup, allowing smaller pieces of broken chips to fall out while eating the sandwich. Chips may not always be available to the diner when desired, such as when a bag of chips is not in the cupboard, or when eating in a restaurant that does not offer chips with sandwiches. And there is a potential for injury to the diner's gums when biting into larger pieces of chips with vertically exposed edges in the sandwich.
A pre-made, substantially flat, crispy chip garnish and the sandwich made therewith would help to eliminate these drawbacks and disadvantages, and would provide the diner with a safer, easy to handle, unique sandwich, thus satisfying an ever present demand for related culinary innovations. However, such a pre-made crispy chip sandwich garnish is currently not known or available.
One prior sandwich product that suggests presentation of a fried potato chip filler, and elimination of the need to place loose potato chips on a sandwich, is illustrated in Pak et al., U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,765,998, 4,879,125 and 4,919,946. Briefly, these patents show an edible food bowl that the patents indicate may be made with a fried potato composition, including a french fried potato chip filler, and that is placed in a sandwich to hold additional sandwich ingredients. However, use of this bowl without additional ingredients is not suggested in these patents, nor would such use be practical or desirable from a culinary standpoint as it would result in the diner simply eating an empty bowl positioned in the sandwich. Moreover, in the event the bowl were actually fried to a crispy chip condition, biting through the substantially vertical sides of the bowl would result in the diner bringing his or her teeth into the crispy sides in a direction that would be dangerous to his or her gums. Any vertically exposed sharp edges in the sides of the bowl, either prior to or as a result of biting into bowl, presents the potential that such sharp edges will cut into the diner's gums. Consequently, although the subject patents suggests that this product eliminates the need for loose chips in a sandwich, use of the product in this manner is less than desirable, and presents potential danger to the diner.